ARC is a comfy Diving resort. They have air-conditioned rooms with the basic sleeping necessities for divers and guests staying through the night. They have lockers and a clean shower/change room for divers and guests who will just stay for the day.

While Anilao does have a good number of fancier, more modern diving accommodations, this resort is still closest to my heart. This is where I stayed when i earned my advanced open water dive certification some 9 years ago.

After being land and water-surface locked for some time, I was so glad that a bunch of my former scuba dive buddies decided to head off for the nearest dive nirvana to Manila- Anilao. We all needed to go under the deep blue. It was unanimously decided to book with Aquaventure Reef Club (ARC) for our day trip.

Upon reaching the resort, I was so glad to once again see the rustic structure of ARC. Oh my, they now have a pool! (It's been that long indeed--the last time I went to this resort, the pool wasn't even there!). I guess they built for divers bringing their non-diver friends/family. Or better yet, a nice cool way for us divers to while-away time during Surface Intervals so we can slowly acclimatize and flush the nitrogen from our blood system between dives.

Since we were only there for a day trip, enjoying the pool was out of the question. We wanted to maximize our stay with 2 leisure dive outs before heading back to Manila in time for dinner.

The set up station of ARC has been upgraded. More hanging facilities for drying out wetsuits, diving equipment, and sorts ( it's really been that long since I've been back to this place...oh boy).

Our first dive out was a 15 minute boat ride to a popular dive site named Cathedral (when dive sites are discovered and mapped out , they are given names). It is a giant rock formation that looks like a roofless underwater amphitheatre. Originally barren, the Cathedral has been seeded with corals it is now home to an abundance of sea life.

After the required diving check, we backrolled into the blue. The water was a bit cold, visibility was average, with a slight current under water. Since I haven't been under for some time, I started off my dive with buoyancy problems but was able to quickly adjust. We slowly finned and navigated our way to the Cathedral rock where a concrete cross was installed by former President Fidel Ramos ( yes, he's a diver too). An orgy of colorful small fish greeted us at the site. There was a school of batfish than swam by. As we poked through the corrals and crevices, we saw clown fish (NEMO!), parrotfish (DORY!!), moray eels, a blow fish, black lion fish, a pair of cuttlefish ( beautifully changing colors as it's translucent skin was hit by the underwater light), and a medium sized grouper. After some 40 minutes under, we slowly ascended , boarded our boat, and headed back for the resort.

Lunch! One of the many reasons why I love this place. Divers are ravenous eaters specially after a dive ( tip: never -ever mess around with the food of a hungry diver ). We got the lunch buffet -Home cooked style pinoy comfort food. Food was corn soup, garden salad, adobo, tortang talong, chop suey, sweet and sour pork, inihaw na tilapia, tons of rice, fresh fruits, and a self serve halo-halo station. All these for Php 400.00 --- how can you go wrong?

For the pickier eaters, ARC has a good list of menu choices ranging from sandwiches, set meals choices of meats and fish, and other staple restaurant dishes- pasta, salads, etc.

While sitting out our required Surface Interval before our next dive after lunch, we decided to hang at ARC's sun deck/bar area that has a majestic view of the South China Sea while chill-out/Cafe del Mar music streamed from the speakers. We ordered mojitos and beer. While nursing our drinks, someone opened a bag of junk food and ordered peanuts. We just had lunch and were stuffed but we started munching on peanuts and junk food with the drinks that we ordered ( ravenous eaters right?).

We wanted an easy dive for our last dive out so we agreed on doing the Dive & trek giant Clam bed. This dive site is popular with divers and snorklers. After a 45 minute boat ride, we back rolled into the site. We were greeted under water by the dive site's resident green sea turtle that slowly swam past our group. This turtle has been living, feeding, and swimming in this site as far as I can remember. We spotted the giant clams ( as huge as small couches). As we leisurely finned around the site, my eyes feasted on the abundance of underwater colors from the corrals, feather stars and the other sea life living in this rich and diverse ecosystem. Man, the calmness, the color, the weightlessness under water --one of the most relaxing experience one can ever have.

After we surfaced and boarded our boat, we headed back to ARC to clean our gear up, get ready for heading home, and --- Merienda ( yes sir, we were hungry again).

Upon reaching ARC, we rinsed our equipment and hang them out to dry. We wanted to take our Merienda at the sun deck..but Drat! Another group of divers ( a big group) was lounging in the deck. So we just ate at the main dining hall. I had the Pinoy Spaghetti with buttered toast-- sweet tomato meat sauce with hotdog slices and lotsa grated quick melt cheese ( a bigger and and meatier-sauce Jollibee spaghetti ).Sarap!

The drive back was relatively fast..WooHoo!! Until we hit the Sucat-SLEX area. Damnit! It was crawling all the way to C5. But i am not blaming that inconvenience to ARC. It's a different horror story/review altogether that is to be blamed to the Manila Holiday Shopping traffic rush.

I definitely look forward to my next visit to ARC and the deep blue sea. Hopefully when schedules meet and time permits, it will be in the very very very near future.